Gladstone became Prime Minister for the second time in April 1880 and hoped to pass an emergency Land Bill through parliament that summer to resolve the Irish Question. When he was defeated in the House of Lords, the Land League took the law into its own hands and violent protests soon followed, even though the leaders had committed to peaceful protests.
Gladstone saw Ireland as a major problem after the Land Bill was defeated in the House of Lords. He saw the violence in Ireland as a major threat so the government passed a tough new Coercion Bill. This bill meant that powers of arrest and imprisonment were granted to the authorities.
Davitt was arrested under this new act and Parnell was suspended along with other leaders of the Land League. After this violence within Ireland the situation became worse and the government could not control it due to it getting out of hand. These arrests strengthened the Irish parliamentary Party and their push for land reform.
The Coercion Act was followed up by the Second Land Act which granted the demands of the Land League. These demands were to provide tenants with a fair rent, fixed tenure and free sale. All of these were granted within the Act.
The passing of the Second Land Act left Parnell with a real problem because as the Irish Leader he had to keep the support of the militants and the moderates, both within and outside his party. If he supported the Second Land Act he would be denounced by the militants for currying favour with the liberals and abandoning struggle for fundamental land reform. On the other hand if he opposed it he might lose the support of the moderates and antagonise those tenants who saw forcible benefits of the Act. Instead Parnell took his time and criticised aspects of the Act without actually rejecting it. So he did not actually upset either the moderates or militants.
Parnell was arrested which actually led to better relations between the Irish Leaders and British Government. The arrest saw the violence within Ireland worsen and going out of control and the British Government could not control the situation. The government realised that the only person who could help solve the violence within Ireland was Parnell.
The Kilmainham treaty was formed which meant that Parnell would be released and the Coercion Act would be relaxed only if Parnell would agree to help stop the violence within Ireland. The prisoners were also released under the Act but the agitation about the land question was discontinued and the policy of land reform begun with the Land Act of 1881 continued.
On the release of Parnell, Lord Frederick Cavendish was sent to Ireland as chief secretary to begin a new era of peace, but on the day he arrived, he and his under-secretary, Burke, were murdered in the Phoenix Park by members of a secret society, the Invincibles. Parnell condemned the murders and despite the setback Gladstone’s attitude to Parnell and the Home Rule question remained basically unchanged. Parnell always believed that solving the Land Question should be the first step on the road to Home Rule. In December 1882, when the suppressed Land League was replaced by the Irish National League, he ensured that the new organisation was under the control of his party and that its primary objective was the winning of Home Rule.
By 1884, Parnell’s authority was so secure that he was able to impose a party pledge. He managed to unite the party into a single unit under his own command.
Overall Parnell was very effective as an Irish Nationalist Leader. He was so successful and effective that he is referred to as the ‘uncrowned King of Ireland’. He was very effective through the campaign for land reform due to the Irish National Land League being formed and himself being appointed as the president of this organisation. Through this organisation he was able to push the idea of land reform through and achieve the main aims of the Irish National Land League, which were to provide tenants with a fair rent, fixed tenure and free sale. He achieved this very successfully and is mostly known for this. He tried to get Home Rule for Ireland but was not as effective at achieving this due to his private life interfering, but he left the grounds for other people to carry on the fight for Home Rule.
All in all he was a very effective Nationalist leader because he managed to achieve what he set out to do, even though he personally didn’t get Home Rule he left the grounds for someone else to do so.
